Herzophia, Wisdom of the Heart
by Frizzo
Summary: Rating might change... Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be sucked from your world into your favorite (or one of your favorite) video game? Read this, and get an idea. Reviews make me happy. (it's not just like the other ones, I hope.)
1. Theme Song

A/N: Okay. Here is my first shot at a Kingdom Hearts fic. I love that game. It is the greatest. As long as your flames are worth typing, I'll allow all nasty things you have to say about my spelling, grammar, paragraph spacing, etc, etc. Ultimate freedom, huh?   DISCLAIMER: Okay. I do not own Kingdom Hearts, squaresoft, or anything else related to Kingdom Hearts. The things I DO own, however, is (I hope) my original idea, and my character(s). I'm not going to write this in many more chapters. I mean, one should be enough. (don't rub it in my face that I don't own this awesome game!!! Grrr...) ah, yes, I don't own the pretty song either. Utada Hikaru owns the pretty song.

I don't intend to make this at all romancey... but I have no guarantees as my mind develops this story. (gag)

Chapter One. Theme Song.

Herzophia sat on the floor on a pillow, playing her beloved Kingdom Hearts game. She had just gotten the game and was extremely excited about playing it. The 14-year-old had just begun a game, and was watching the intro, listening to that catchy song. A bit too catchy, as it was promptly stuck in her head. She grumbled under her breath, and shook her silver-covered head, trying to get that infernal tune out of her mind. She could still hear it while she was choosing her weapon, sword, shield, or staff.

_When you walk away..._

Grrr.... Herzophia's amber eyes flashed. The game was good and all, but for crying out loud, she did not want to hear the same song a million times over! One time was good enough for her. What's worse was she had just the refrain stuck in her head. She couldn't remember the entire song. So this was going in her head over and over and over:

When you walk away 

_You don't hear me say please_

_Oh baby, don't go_

_Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight_

_It's hard to let it go_

Over. And over. And over. Grrr. She took out her anger as she was smashing a few of the shadows that popped up from the ground. Within about ten minutes of when she started, she (rather, Sora) was running around on the Destiny Islands picking up the materials for the raft and fighting with Tidus and the others. She finished with the raft thing, and had Sora go to Kairi and call it a day. She watched the cutscene after that. And then played some more. She finished with the food-gathering thing.

_Simple and clean is the way that you're..._

Gah! That infernal song again! Herzophia shook her head again, hoping to clear it. She watched the cutscene again, and ran around on the island. She saved the game before she went to bed. It was 11:00 p.m., she had to get SOME rest. Besides, she could always turn it on tomorrow morning and proceed to beat the life out of some more shadows. She trudged up the stairs to her bedroom, all the while thinking of how much further she would get in Kingdom Hearts the next day. She got into her pajamas, brushed her teeth, and slid under her covers. Rolling over onto one side, she let the darkness of sleep envelop her.

You're giving me too many things 

_Lately you're all I need_

_You smiled at me and said,_

_Don't get me wrong I love you_

_But does that mean I have to meet your father?_

_When we are older you'll understand_

_What I meant when I said "no,_

_I don't think life is quite that simple."_

_When you walk away_

_You don't hear me say please_

_Oh baby, don't go_

_Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight_

_It's hard to let it go..._

And there is the first chapter of my story. Short, I know. But I'm not writing more till I know people are happy with what I'm writing. So, please, if you could give a few seconds to tell me what you think, I will give you a cookie! If you don't mind text cookies, anyway...


	2. Whatever Lies Beyond This Morning

A/N: Thank you to Elven Kyttin for helping me figure out how to fix the lyrics problem. That was very nice of you. ^_^ Have a cookie. (give Elven Kyttin a cookie) If anyone wants to see anything in particular happen in this story, feel free to tell me. And, without further to do... Here's this chapter's disclaimer/rant: I don't own it. So there. Go away. Now you can't sue me so leave me alone! I do own my character, though. And... hopefully... my plot. I mean... sure... it's a your-character-meets-videogame thing... but...

Chapter 2. Whatever Lies Beyond This Morning...

The daily things that keep up all busy 

_Are confusing me_

_That's when you came to me and said,_

_Wish I could prove I love you_

_But does that mean I have to walk on water?_

_When we are older you'll understand_

_It's enough when I say so_

_And maybe some things are that simple_

_When you walk away_

_You don't hear me say please_

_Oh baby, don't go_

_Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight_

_It's hard to let it go_

_Hold me_

_Whatever lies beyond this morning_

_Is a little later on_

_Regardless of warnings the future doesn't scare me at all_

_Nothing's like before..._

Ten  O'clock a.m., Herzophia woke up, brushed her teeth, took a shower, and got dressed. Her favorite outfit had just gotten out of the wash. She wore black sweatpants, a red tank top, and a black sweatshirt to go over it. Her favorite color was black, obviously. She yawned and walked down the stairs to the living room, where she switched on the PS2 and pushed the 'on' button on the TV.

"What the-?" Herzophia stared at the television. The screen was black. Checking the PS2, she confirmed that it was working. The game disk was in and everything. She scratched her head in confusion. She shrugged, turned off the PS2 and TV, and walked out of the living room, slightly annoyed that she was to be deprived of her beloved Kingdom Hearts game. She searched the house for something else to do.

Her dad was watching the television. Ugh, James Bond videos AGAIN. 'Does he ever not watch that?' She thought to herself.

Said father of hers noticed that she had been wandering aimlessly around the house for about 15 minutes. He decided to do something about it. "Why don't you go ride your bike or something?" He asked. "You hardly ever go outside." Which was true. She only went outside when there was absolutely NOTHING else to do.(A/N:just like me...)

"Grr..." She growled. She walked to the back door, not bothering to put on any shoes. She could go barefoot. It wasn't like she was going out there all day...

She walked into her back yard and layed down in the grass, then stared up at the clouds. It wasn't the most exciting thing to do, but, hey, it was interesting to find clouds in the shapes of things like dragons, or rabbits, or... something. 

She continued to stare at the clouds for about a half hour, when, all of a sudden, the sky turned dark. Not just the dark you get on a cloudy day, no, but black. As if there was a huge thunderstorm rolling in. The clouds above her neighborhood... were they even clouds? They just looked like darkness... started to swirl around, soon forming a blackish-orangish-reddish ball. Now... she was scared. Scared and confused.

"What the hell is that!" She screamed to no one. Suddenly, and very unexpectedly, a shadow appeared. She stared at it, wide-eyed. 'But...' She thought, 'isn't that from-' She looked up again. "NO!" she screamed to no one again, "It can't be!! Kingdom Hearts... is it real?" 

The winds began to pick up. She ran inside, and grabbed her biking gloves and helmet. Heading to the garage, she got on her bike, and rode as fast as she could to where the dark portal thing seemed to be. 

Her bike skidded to a halt as she put on the brakes hard. She threw off her helmet and jumped off her bike, letting it clatter carelessly to the ground. 'Oh no... will our world... disappear?' She thought as she stared up at the swirling dark mass above her. The winds were really strong here, and she had to hang on to a nearby tree to keep from being sucked in, as nearby things were already flying towards the dark portal.

More shadows had begun to appear, and soon, she could hear screams from nearby houses as their inhabitants were attacked by the Heartless. Not daring to look back at her home, fearing the worst, she fought off the few heartless that noticed her presence, which was growing increasingly harder as the winds grew stronger. 

Clutching the tree for dear life, she kicked a nearby Heartless- she had been taking karate since she was 7- as hard as she could, and it disappeared. She slumped down against the tree. Her arms were getting tired. Her brain was in shock. How could this be happening? It was a video game! It wasn't supposed to be real! It couldn't be real! But it was... it was very real, and she was about to get sucked into the dark portal. She may never see her family or friends... or even enemies... again. The thought was overwhelming.

Finally, her poor muscles couldn't take it any more, and her arms released from the tree. She vaguely remembered seeing a large Heartless... she recognized it as the Darkside... before she entered the dark portal and blacked out.

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A/N: So, what do you think of Chapter 2? Is it good? I tried really hard not to make it boring. My mind was stuck in the beginning. (gags) Oh well. At least I finished. I would like to thank FlikFreak for being my first reviewer... and the only reason I wrote this chapter. You go FlikFreak! I'm glad to know someone else is as obsessed with Kingdom Hearts as I am. J


	3. The Dream

A/N: Oookay... I decided I'm going to give my character a little 'awakening' of her own. I'll try to make it as original as possible, but I will use stuff from the game. I know it's backwards from the direction Sora went. I don't plan on giving her a Keyblade, unless you want it, of course. Disclaimer: I own my character and that is all. 

This is her dream while she is in the dark portaley thing. So, here is chapter 3.

Chapter 3. The Dream.

Alternate title: Awakening.

"Ugh... where am I?" Herzophia slowly opened her eyes. It was very dim, she could hardly see a thing. 'What happened?' She thought, confused. 'Was that real?' She looked around. She tried squinting to see better, but to no avail. She realized she was laying down on something hard, and tried to stand up, only to have her legs fail her and fall right back down on her butt. The ground was cold. It felt like... glass?

Suddenly, the lights got much brighter, as if someone had pulled back the curtains on a sunny morning. Herzophia closed her eyes, then opened them slightly, to look around her. She was standing on what appeared to be a large circle of stained glass. It was green, and had a large picture of a woman in a yellow dress, holding a bright red apple. Arranged around her were seven smaller pictures of the heads of bearded men. It looked familiar, and the place had an eerie feel to it, almost as if it were alive. A voice spoke, seemingly from nowhere, causing Herzophia to jump a few inches._ "So much to do...._

_                                                                                        So little time... Take your time. The door has not yet been opened."_

Herzophia stood up, her legs holding her this time, and looked around for the source of the voice. It spoke again, but this time she was not startled. _"Now, step forward. Can you do it?" _

She didn't know how she could stand right now, much less walk. She continued to look for the source of the voice. She crossed her arms in front of her chest. She was getting annoyed. "Who are you? Show yourself!" She commanded. The voice did not answer. She decided to do as it asked, and took a step forward.

The voice didn't speak. She ran to the middle of the stained glass disk.

The ground began to vibrate slightly, and three stone altars rose up out of the glass. _"Power rests within you..." _ The voice spoke. Three things appeared on the altars. _"If you give it form..."_ A sword, a shield, and a staff. _"It will give you strength. Choose well."_

Herzophia was thoroughly confused now. Who was speaking to her? Why were these things appearing? She looked around at the weapons. She walked over to the altar holding the staff and climbed up. She held the staff in her hands, and the voice spoke again. _"Power of the Mystic. Inner strength. A staff of wonder and ruin. Is this the power you seek?"_ She pondered the question. Inner strength... a staff of wonder... but ruin? Perhaps not. "Maybe not." She said, unsure. She jumped down and placed the staff back in its place. She slowly walked over to the shield, jumped on its altar, and held it. The voice spoke. _"The power of the Guardian. Kindness to aid friends. A shield to repel all. Is this the power you seek?" _ She glanced over at the sword. Maybe it would be better than the both of them? She decided to see all her options, and then choose. She shook her head, meaning no. She hopped down off the altar and replaced the shield. She ran over to the altar with the sword on top and pulled herself up. She took the sword in her hands, noticing how well the hilt fit in her grasp. _"The power of the Warrior. Invincible courage. A sword of terrible destruction. Is this the power you seek?" _ She could certainly use courage at a time like this. But she decided to think on it longer, and answered no, this was not the power she was seeking. She slid down from the altar, sat on the floor and leaned against the stone. 

Power of the Mystic.... inner strength... the power of the guardian... kindness... the power of the warrior... courage... hard choice. Did she want wonder and ruin? A shield to repel all? Or did she wish to cause terrible destruction? The good choices... the bad choices... they all made it harder. Perhaps she should go on how they felt to her? The staff seemed a little bulky, and was a bit wide for her hands. The shield was heavy, and she didn't think she could hold it up for very long. But the sword... the sword was perfect... it fit in her grip perfectly, and was lightweight and well balanced. It was decided.

She stood up and climbed back up the altar, and took the sword in her hands. _"Is this the power you seek?"_ Spoke the voice. She nodded confidently. _"Your path is set."_ The sword disappeared in a flash of light. The next thing the voice said both relieved and scared her. _"Now, what will you give up in exchange?" _Give up? She had to go without one of these marvelous abilities? But... she would have two... and not just the power of the Warrior. Inner strength... Kindness... she decided to give up the shield. She had enough kindness already in her, and she had a feeling inner strength would come in handy.

She jogged over to the shield and held it in her hands. _"Do you give up this power?" _The voice inquired. She hesitated, then said "Yes." The shield disappeared in a flash of light, except it seemed to be dissolving. _"You've chosen the power of the Warrior. You've given up the power of the Guardian. Is this the form you choose?" _She nodded firmly. She had chosen. She wasn't going to change it after all that thinking. "Yes."

The altar under her sank into the stained glass, as did the other two. She jumped off. She stood in the middle of the circle as the glass began to shatter from the outside and closing in on her. The glass beneath her shattered, and she fell into the darkness below her.

She fell, and another stained glass circle was below her, coming closer. It was blue, and had a woman in a blue dress, with brown hair. There were pictures of people and carriages that looked mysteriously like pumpkins around her. Herzophia began to fall slower, and eventually she could turn herself over and land softly on her bare feet.

The sword appeared in her hand. _"You have gained the power to fight." _ She gave the sword a few experimental swings, listening to how it made a swooshing noise through the air. _"All right!" _The voice exclaimed._ "You've got it. Use this power to protect yourself and others." _'Protect?' Thought Herzophia. 'Protect... from what? ... From shadows? Wait, this is just like in my game!' Sure enough, a few shadows started to rise up from the glass below her. _"There will be times when you have to fight. Keep your light burning strong."_ She swung the sword viciously at an attacking Shadow, dodging the little thing's sharp claws. The sword connected, and the Shadow dissipated into nothing. She knew what was coming next. She remained in her battle position as the remaining shadows sank into the stained glass disk. _"Behind you!" _Cautioned the voice. Herzophia spun around and slashed the life out of the oncoming Heartless.

After that one was taken care of, more Shadows appeared. She swung her sword at the nearest one, deflecting its attack. She then pounced on the stunned Heartless and killed it. There were more behind her, however. One jumped on her back and clawed through her sweatshirt and tank top, slashing the skin underneath. Herzophia gritted her teeth from the pain, and, because the Shadow was still on her back, slammed herself down on top of the Heartless, crushing it to death. She continued to fight until one was left. As she turned to face it, a dark pool showed up underneath it, swallowing it. The pool continued to grow, and more were appearing. Herzophia got caught in one, and remembered how it would just take her to another glass disk. She dove into the darkness, rather than struggling as Sora had.

The next stained glass area had no people on it at all. It had many colors, and had a large heart on it. There was a door on the other end of the platform. She walked over to it and looked at- through?- it. She obviously couldn't open it, as when she attempted to touch it, her hand passed right through. She turned around, and a treasure chest appeared. She walked over to it and tapped it lightly, as Sora had in her game. The treasure chest opened, but it contained nothing. Behind her, a large crate appeared. She jogged over and destroyed it with her sword, revealing a potion that had been inside. She picked up the potion.

The border of the transluscent door became solid, and a barrel appeared next to her. She hit the barrel with her sword, and it went flying into the air. It seemed to hit an invisible barrier and broke apart. The door behind her became completely solid. She walked cautiously over to it, and stood back as it began to open. A blinding light came from behind the door, so she shielded her eyes and walked into it.

She was back home, at her favorite park. She began to feel overjoyed, and walked over to her best friend, Crystal, who was sitting in a swing. "Crystal! You're okay! You don't know how happy I am to-" But she was interrupted.

"What is most important to you?" The blonde-haired girl asked. Herzophia blinked, confused.

"But... I thought you knew? My friends are most important to me! How can you have forgotten, you are one of my friends!" She exclaimed.

"Is friendship such a big deal?" Crystal asked, not seeming to notice much more than the answer of 'my friends.'

Herzophia walked away from her friend. What was this? She noticed a boy standing over to the side. Chandresh, the boy she noticed, had been her friend since Kindergarten. She walked quickly over to him. "Chandresh, do you know what's wrong with-"

"What are you most afraid of?" The tan boy interrupted. What were all these questions?!

"Getting old, of course." Herzophia answered plainly. Now she remembered this part from her game.

"Is that really so scary?" Chandresh asked.

Herzophia looked around for the third person, who would ask what she wanted most out of life or something like that. She noticed a small, red-haired, freckle faced girl sitting on the end of the slide. She walked over and waited for the question. "What do you want out of life?" Dilwyn asked.

"To see rare sights." Herzophia asked with a sparkle in her eye. She had a feeling she would get to do that soon.

"To see rare sights, huh?" Dil stated.

The voice spoke. Of course. _"You want friendship. You are afraid of getting old. You want to see rare sights. Your journey begins at dawn. As long as the sun is shining, your journey should be a pleasant one."_

"Sounds good." Herzophia said loudly to the disembodied voice. She knew what was coming quickly... and she didn't like the idea...

The voice interrupted her thoughts._ "The day the One opens the door is far off and very near." _ Searing white light filled the park. When the area darkened again, Herzophia stood on a red stained glass disk, with a picture of a woman in a purple gown holding a blood red rose to her chest. Around her were thorny green vines. A beam of light shone down a few yards in front of where Herzophia stood. She ran to the light and stopped. 

The reason for her sudden halt was the fact that she was soon surrounded by many Heartless. She took out her sword and attacked the one closest to her. She killed about 5 this way, not getting hurt once yet. On her 6th Heartless, she attacked it, but was scratched from behind by a 7th. She leapt in the air at the one she was earlier pursuing, and got scratched badly on the face by an 8th. She whirled around and obliterated the 7th, slashed wildy through the 6th, got scratched on the arm by the 8th, and afterword impaled it.

Herzophia stood up, breathing heavily. A bright beam of light again shone down from above, showing her a green area. 'Save game point? Naah... this is real life...' Thought Herzophia dizzily. She walked tiredly over to the glowing green patch and stood on it. She looked at her arm, amazed as the bloody gouges from the Shadow disappeared. This may not be a save game point, but at least it still healed her. The beam of light moved across the stained glass from the glowing green spot, and illuminated a flight of stained glass stairs. Herzophia walked over to the stairs and made sure they were sturdy by stomping on the first one with her bare foot, making a slapping noise and causing her foot to be in pain and become red. Well... they were sturdy all right.

She climbed the colorful steps and walked off the last one onto a yellow stained glass platform. This time, it showed a beautiful brunette in a golden colored gown, with an ugly beast next to her. Another beam of light shone down from the darkness above. Herzophia walked closer to the light... this was what she hadn't been wanting to do.... she knew what would come from this part. As she stepped into the light, the mysterious disembodied voice spoke to her for what felt like the billionth time. _"The closer you get to the light, the greater your shadow becomes."_  Herzophia turned around to watch her shadow rise from the ground, a look of horror on her face, her amber eyes filled with fear. 'I don't know if I can defeat this...' She thought as her shadow grew larger. _"Don't be afraid."_ The voice said encouragingly. 'A bit late...' thought the silver-haired girl. _"And don't forget..." _It said as her shadow continued to grow in height. Herzophia backed up from the gigantic Heartless. It began not to look like her at all... she began to run backwards from the dark creature looming in front of her. She tripped, stood up again, turned around, and ran to the edge of the glass. "Oh..." She mumbled to herself. "That's right..." She turned around to face the Darkside. 'Don't forget what?' She thought.

The Darkside stood up in all its awful glory. It had to be over a hundred feet tall... Herzophia got out her sword, deciding this was no time to think about how tall her enemy was. Just slash at any part you can until either you kill it or it kills you. She ran forward, attacking the most obvious thing to attack –its hand. She followed it until it got too high for her to reach. The darkside slammed its humongous hand into the ground, creating a dark vortex thing, out of which several Shadows sprouted. Herzophia didn't care... she just hacked away at the hand that was embedded in the ground. Several Shadows slashed at her back and arms, until she had to get rid of them. She easily dispatched them, having grown stronger from all the hacking and slashing and killing she was doing. She turned around to face the Darkside again, to find it clutching the heart-shaped hole in its chest.

A ball of energy began to form in it, and Herzophia watched as it removed its hands from the hole... and began shooting at her. She screamed and ducked, running to the hand again, which was now close to the ground for a third time. She jumped in the air and landed on top of it and started jabbing her sword down into the hand.

The darkside started to fall. Herzophia was hurled off of its hand as it plunged it into the ground again. Then the other one. Soon, she was almost swimming in a pool of darkness. She almost went under, when the voice spoke again. _"-but don't be afraid..." _ Her waist was under. _"For he holds the mightiest weapon of all..." _ 'Who is 'he'?' She thought as her left arm went under. 'Sora..?' _"So don't forget:"_ Now her head was the only thing above the dark pool. _"He is the one... who will open the door..." _ And she was lost in darkness.

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A/N: And there is chapter 3 for ya! Tell you the truth, I wasn't as original as I hoped. You still like it though, right? ;)  Well, please review. I'll try to get the 4th chapter out soon. See you then, and thanks to everyone who reviewed!


	4. The Heartblade

A/N: Sorry, this is out a day later than I planned. I was hoping some new people would review my story. I wonder how many people read but don't review? It's probably quite a few... hey that rhymed!

Disclaimer: Grr... do I really have to write one for EVERY chapter? This sucks. I hate disclaimers. Well... I don't own anything but my character. Oh... and the purty sword I give her.

Chapter 4. The Heartblade.

Herzophia groaned softly and opened her eyes. She sat up and took in her surroundings. Wherever she was, it was nighttime. She turned her head to look to the side and winced as her neck seared with pain. She began wondering WHY she was in so much pain, when she remembered. The dream... but, it was just a dream, wasn't it? She continued to survey the area. She was lying in the Third District of Traverse Town, in the abandoned house, but she hadn't gotten that far, so she had no idea where she was. She stood up and walked to the door, eager to leave the cobweb-filled, dusty house.

No sooner did she walk out the door than about 5 shadows appeared. She spun around, looking for a safe area, and saw the doors to the Second District. She ran madly towards them and slammed her body against them. The door opened and she stumbled through. Fortunately, the shadows didn't follow. Now she was in an alley, and could only go one direction, so she headed that way. The alley led to a large plaza, with a fountain on one side, and another wall on the other. She walked into the plaza.

When she reached the middle of the plaza, she was surrounded by what must have been twenty shadows. She couldn't just run away from these, as there was no way to get out that was near enough. There was nothing to do but fight.

The shadows closed in on her, and she ran madly at the one nearest to her. She delivered strong kick to it, and it disappeared. Well, at least she could get rid of them. There were still nineteen left, however. Eight of said shadows jumped onto her back, scratching her and biting her, causing her to cry out in pain. She used the same thing she did on the shadow in her dream, slamming her back down onto the pavement, killing 6 out of the 8. She punched a seventh one hard into the ground, and kicked the eighth one into a wall.

The remaining eleven shadows all swarmed on her, pinning her to the ground. She couldn't move. If she didn't get rid of them fast, she would lose her heart to them, and become one of them herself. A shadow scratched scratched her back badly, leaving three very deep and very bloody gouges just below her shoulderblades. She screamed loudly.

Suddenly, she heard someone let out a war cry, and the weight on her back disappeared. Two strong hands helped her into a sitting position. 

"Are you okay?" A boy's voice asked, concerned. He sounded familiar. "These scratches are bad, drink this." A bottle was thrusted into her hands. She opened her eyes- they had been shut before because she was in pain- and looked at it, confused. "Go on," the boy laughed, "it won't kill you." She rose the bottle to her mouth and drank. It tasted AWFUL. She resisted the urge to spit it back out and swallowed. 

Herzophia turned to look at the person who helped her, and very nearly dropped the bottle. "Y- you're..." She stammered. She was in such shock that she couldn't speak right.

The boy had impossibly spiky brown hair, and blue eyes. He was wearing a red shirt under a black and white, zip up hooded t-shirt, poofy red shorts, and large yellow shoes. A necklace in the shape of a crown hung from his neck. He laughed again. "I'm Sora." He smiled. "You're pretty lucky I found you, otherwise you may have ended up like that guy I saw a few minutes ago." Now he frowned. "It was awful..."

As he was talking, Herzophia tried to sort things out. So Kingdom Hearts WAS real? This was almost too much to handle. She shook her head slightly to clear it. No use in whining. First she had better find out where she was. "Sora?" She interrupted his tale of how the man lost his heart.

Sora blinked, a little startled that she actually spoke, then said, "what?"

"Where are we?"

Sora chuckled, and stood up. "This is Traverse Town." He held out a hand to help her. She took his hand and he pulled her up from the ground. "So, I take it you're not from here?" She shook her head. "Neither am I. My world was taken by the Heartless, as well as yours, I'm guessing."

Herzophia nodded. Then, out of nowhere, a thought came. 'I should get a weapon... then maybe I won't be forced to play the role of a damsel in distress...' "Hey, Sora..."  she asked hesitantly. He looked at her. "Do you know... where I can find... like... a-" She thought about her dream. "A sword?" She finished.

'A sword?' Sora thought. "Why do you need a sword?"

Herzophia frowned, slightly angry about how thick he was. "Well, Sora," she said hotly, voicing her thoughts earlier. "I'm not the kind of person that likes to play the role of a damsel in distress!" She got angrier when he laughed. She poked him in the ribs, hard.

"Ow, hey- what was that for?" He said between laughs.

"Why do you think this is funny?!"

He shook his head, still chuckling. "Nothing, it's just the way you said it." She frowned at him and he shook his head again. "Come on, I'll take you to the Items Shop."

He lead her up a flight of stairs and to a pair of double doors. He shoved them open and walked through. "Where we just were was the Second District," Sora said while they walked down another flight of stairs, "now we're in the First District, where the Accessory and Items shops are." They walked down to another large plaza, and over to a building with a large neon sign that read 'ITEMS.' Sora opened the door and they walked in.

The Items Shop wasn't very big. There weren't many distinguishing items around. The first thing Herzophia noticed as she walked in was three ducklings. One was wearing a blue t-shirt and baseball cap, another a red version of the first, and a third was wearing green. "Hey, Huey, Dewey, and Louie," said Sora. The ducks waved in greeting.

"Hello, Sora, what can we do for you today?" Asked one, the one in green. "Need some potion? An Ether, maybe?"

Sora shook his head. "Actually, we were looking to see if you had a sword," he answered, and nodded towards Herzophia. "She was looking to buy one."

Herzophia blinked, and realized something. She tugged on Sora's sleeve to get his attention. "Sora!" she said in a low voice. "I can't pay for this! I don't have any munny!" Sora gave her a shocked look.

"Hey, you know what, could you put that on hold?" He asked the duck in green as he was heading off to the storeroom. The duck nodded, and Sora led Herzophia back out of the Items Shop.

When they got out, Herzophia looked at him, slightly puzzled. She expected him to be angry, and was even more puzzled when he talked to her in a happy tone. "Well, I guess we'll just have to go earn you some munny, then. Come on." They walked into the Second District again. "All we have to do is get rid of some Heartless to get money. I found out a little bit before I met you," he explained.

They walked over near the hotel, and three shadows appeared, blocking their way. Sora took out what appeared to be a large key, and obliterated one of them. He picked up the munny that the Heartless had dropped. He turned around to see Herzophia deliver an amazing punch to one of the remaining two, smashing it, and send the third flying into a wall. "Wow, that was amazing, er-" He had never gotten her name.

She looked confused for a moment, then realized what he was getting to. "My name is Herzophia." She said.

Sora whistled. "Herzophia... that's quite a long name." She shrugged. "Mind if I call you by a nickname? Like... Zophi, or Zia, maybe?"

Herzophia shrugged again. No one had ever bothered to call her by a nickname before. "You can call me Zophi, I guess." She replied.

Sora grinned his classic grin, and pointed to the munny on the ground. "There's some munny, Zophi." He said. She picked it up and put it in the pocket of her sweatpants. "Come on, let's go to the Gizmo Shop. What you have isn't enough to buy a sword yet. How much do you have?"

Herzophia took the munny out of her pocket and counted it. "I have about... 20 munny." She answered. "How much more will I need?"

Sora thought for a minute. "About fifteen times what you already have." Then he added hastily as she looked shocked, and slightly angry, "weapons cost a lot, you know!" And he began to walk towards the Gizmo Shop.

Herzophia sighed and followed him. They walked up to a pair of double doors with stained glass windows. Sora opened one of the doors and walked in, forgetting to hold the door. Herzophia almost smacked right into it, but held out her hand in time to hold it open. 'Stupid boy...' She thought angrily, and walked into the shop. Sora had already begun to beat up the shadows that were appearing. Herzophia watched as a shadow leapt at his back. He didn't see it! She ran forward and kicked the little monster hard, killing it before it ripped Sora's back open. She bent down to pick up the munny it had dropped, and noticed that more shadows were appearing. She pocketed the munny and turned to face them. She and Sora made quick work of the Heartless. After they had defeated the swarms of shadows that had been attacking them, Herzophia picked up all the munny on the ground.

"How much do you have?" Sora inquired.

Herzophia took all the munny she had gotten out of her pocket and counted it. "Two hundred and sixty-seven munny." She replied.

Sora grinned. "That's good. I can lend you the rest. Let's go."

Herzophia stood up and followed him out of the Gizmo Shop, back to the First District, and back to the Items Shop.

"Ah, you're back!" Quacked the green-clad duckling. "We have the perfect sword for her! And I think it looks pretty cool, too!" He picked up a sword from the counter, and handed it to Herzophia. She looked at it in awe, marveling at how light it was, despite how heavy it looked.

Its blade was strange. It was kind of like Sora's Keyblade, but the end kind of looked like a heart rather than a key. The blade was silver. The hilt of the sword was just like any other hilt, but the things on the side were rounded and came to a point at the end... another heart shape, and it was a light purple. Herzophia thought it was beautiful. She grasped the hilt with her right hand and gave it an experimental swing. When it went through the air it made a soft whistling noise. She also heart a small jingling noise, and looked at the hilt again. A keychain in the shape of a heart hung off the hilt.

Sora watched as she tested the new sword. It was definitely good. "How much is it?" He asked the duck in green.

"Three hundred." Replied the duckling.

Herzophia heard the amount, and took what she had out of her pocket. She handed the munny to the duck. The duck counted the money and turned to Sora. "She doesn't appear to have any more munny... would you care to pay the remaining thirty three?" Sora nodded, took the money out of his pocket, and gave it to the duck.

"Wow..." breathed Herzophia. The blade was perfect. "Thanks a lot, Sora..."

Sora grinned at Herzophia. "Glad ya like it, Zophi. Come on, let's go."

The pair of teenagers walked out of the Items Shop. "Hey, let's go to the Accessory Shop," suggested Sora, "there's someone you should meet there." Herzophia nodded, and let Sora lead the way to the Accessory Shop.

Sora greeted the shopkeeper. "Hey Gramps!" He called.

"Didn't I tell you not to call me gramps?" Asked the shopkeeper.

Sora chuckled. "Zophi," he said, turning to Herzophia, "this is Cid." Then he turned to the shopkeeper. "Cid, this is Zophi. I found her pinned under a bunch of Heartless a little while ago. She says her world was taken over as well."

"Is that so?" Asked Cid. "Well, hello there, Zophi." Then he appeared to be thinking. "Pinned under Heartless, you say?" He took something out from behind the counter and threw it to Herzophia. It was a charm in the shape of a heart within a circle on a thin chain. "Wear this, it's a Protega Chain. Should help you in case you find yourself in another predicament such as Sora described."

Herzophia nodded and put the chain around her neck. "Thanks, er... Cid."

"Well," said Sora, "we should probably look for a way to get home, huh? Later, Gramps." He headed toward the door of the shop, Herzophia following again.

They stepped out of the shop. Just as they were heading towards the stairs, a voice spoke to them, the voice of a man. "They'll come at you out of nowhere." The man stepped around the corner of the shop and looked at Sora, hardly taking into notice the girl standing next to him. He had brown hair, and wore black jeans, a white t-shirt and a black leather vest.

"Who are you?"

"And they'll keep on coming at you," he continued, "as long as you continue to weild the Keyblade." He pointed at the weapon Sora held in his hand. "But why?" He put his hand on his forehead. "Why would it choose a kid like you?"

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Sora asked, annoyed.

"Never mind," the man said. "Now, let's see that Keyblade." He began to move toward Sora, reaching his hand out for the Keyblade.

"What? There's no way you're getting this!" Sora exclaimed.

"All right, then have it your way." The man took out a sword that looked like a gun and faced Sora.

Sora charged, and swung the Keyblade at his challenger. The man was quicker, and dodged. He jumped backwards from Sora, and held out his hand. Fire appeared in front of his outstretched palm, and shot at Sora, catching him totally off-guard. Sora stumbled backwards, in pain. Then he charged the man again, this time, it was his opponent who was caught off-guard. The man, not expecting him to recover so quickly, fell victim to Sora's attack, getting hit 4 times before he recovered and jumped out of the way. He swung his sword in a wide arc, and it hit Sora hard, sending him flying back into the Item Shop's wall.

Herzophia watched as Sora hit the wall, and heard a sickening *crack* as his head hit it, and he went out cold. "SORA!" She cried, running to her fallen friend. She couldn't wake him up, he was thoroughly unconscious. She whipped out her sword and faced Sora's attacker.

The man watched as a girl he had before failed to notice ran to her fallen comrade. He watched as she realized she couldn't wake him. But then, something entirely unexpected happened. She turned around and pulled out a sword much like the Keyblade.

Herzophia, seeing the look of shock on the stranger's face, decided to use his surprise to her advantage. She ran forward, screaming out a battle cry, and mercilessly hacked away at the man.

She was strong, he noticed, not weak like most girls her age. But, he was in pain, and he had to make her stop. He gripped his sword harder and swung it around with all his might.

Herzophia saw him grip his sword tighter. She desperately tried to move out of the way of his attack, but failed. The sword connected with her body, and she fell to the ground. Unconscious.

The man put his sword away. He had won, even though it was close.

"Aw, you're slipping, Leon." A cheerful voice sounded behind him. He turned around. Yuffie, of course.

"I went easy on 'em." He said. "Still... things are worse than we thought." He gazed at the two unconscious teenagers. "A lot worse."

'Both should have been stronger by now,' he thought. 'And they should not have met each other. I wonder what will happen now that the wielder of the Heartblade has joined the wielder of the Keyblade...'

*************************************

A/N: Again, sorry it's out late. It's longer than I usually write, and I suck at writing descriptions of swords and writing battle sequences. I made up that little Heartblade thing myself. Aren't you proud? I know I am. ^_^ Well, tell me what you think. See you later! (waves)


	5. Explanations and New Friends

A/N: Goddammit! My dad took away the modem last night and this morning and I couldn't post my story. I had to write it in an old science notebook and type it up this morning. Grr... he didn't even let me play Kingdom Hearts last night either! It's all my stupid brother's fault! He ticked off my dad, which made him take the parts. (picks up scythe and calls her brother) Oh, Ian, come here! (runs after her brother, wielding a scythe in her hand, cackling evilly.) Oh, right... the story.

Disclaimer: ---- That should be self explanatory... you dis-claim it... but oh well. I don't own Kingdom Hearts. My character and her weapon are the only things I own. (which I am very proud of by the way. ^_^)

Chapter 5. Explanations and New Friends.

"Wake up. Come on, you can't sleep all day!" Yuffie told Sora.

As Yuffie aroused the unconscious brunette, Leon was in another room, waking up Herzophia. "Hey, get up, kid!" He shook her gently.

She groaned sofly and opened her eyes to glare at the person who woke her up from her peaceful – although painful – slumber. Recognizing Leon as the person who had attacked them – and sadly, beaten both of them – she attempted to jump to her feet. Excruciating pain shot through her side, making her whimper quietly and slouch back down against the wall.

"Don't try to get up just yet," Leon told her, "first, I would like to explain things a bit to you."

Seeing as she couldn't move, Herzophia nodded slowly. What was the use of trying to fight back, if every time you stood up your body was filled with unbearable pain?

Leon nodded back. "All right. First, do you know what it is that you use as a sword? How important it is to our universe's survival?"

Herzophia shook her head. She was confused again, and this wouldn't be the last time.

"That sword you wield is called the Heartblade," Leon explained, "the Heartblade gives the bearer the ability to see others' hearts, allows them to see what amount of the heart has been consumed the darkness, and how much was strong enough to stay light. Also, if the bearer is strong enough in their mind and has a good reason, the Heartblade may even restore someone's heart to them, if the one who had their heart stolen had a strong one, and if they died for a noble cause, like saving someone's life." Her paused here and looked at the silver-haired girl on the floor. "It seems, for no reason I could think of before, to have found its way to you. I do have a hunch now, however, that the Heartblade chose YOU because you became friends with the bearer of the Keyblade." He looked at her again to notice she looked as if she was dizzy, about to fall over. He walked over and gave her a Potion. "I need you to stay awake for this, kid."

Herzophia's head was spinning. What did this have to do with ANYTHING? She felt a bottle drop onto her lap. She looked down at it, realized it was a Potion, and drank the foul-tasting mix. Instantly, her dizziness was gone, and some of the pain in her side receded. She sat up straighter against the wall, it not being so painful anymore. She looked at Leon and spoke, her voice a hoarse whisper. "Keep going, this is making VERY little sense."

Leon sighed and put his head in his hand. "I thought that might be the case..." He removed his head from his hand and continued his story. "The Heartblade and the Keyblade were made by a half-demon mage, Yuri, who put her unusual magic into both of them. She's long dead by now, but her magic still lives on in both of her creations. She put her wisdom of the heart into the Heartblade, and made it so that only a girl with a strong will and an even stronger heart could wield it. In the Keyblade she put her strong sense of friendship, making it so that only a boy who held great compassion, and love, for his friends, and who would protect them at almost any cost, could wield it. The Keyblade has the power to unlock anything, and seal the Keyholes to the worlds." He paused for a few moments to let this long bit of information sink in.

'So... a demon's magic is infused in my sword?' thought Herzophia. She pondered Leon's words for a brief moment. "Keep going..." she said.

Leon continued. "Yuri, knowing the blades were powerful, scattered them, sent them to different ends of the universe. If those two blades were to find each other, they and the ones to wielded them would create a terrible force that could, in turn with saving the universe from the Heartless, could make it possible for the Heartless to completely overcome it. She didn't want the second thing to occur. The blades were not supposed to have found each other, and you and Sora should not have met. But, as my friends and I have found out, the strong and familiar magic in the blades caused them to find each other again, and caused you and Sora to meet. Now the blades will stick together. You and Sora are that terrible force that could destroy the Heartless or our universe. If you or Sora ever get lost from each other, the blades' magic will somehow make you find each other again. The blades are like brother and sister." He turned to Herzophia, who was very confused, very curious, and very surprised.

'So... a terrible force... the blades are like brother and sister? I suppose Sora and I are too, then... how... strange. Either save or destroy our universe, everything as we know it... hold on a minute, speaking of my sword, WHERE IS IT?!?' Coming on that last thought, she swiveled her head in every direction, searching for her weapon.

Leon, noticing the girl's frantic searching, tossed her a Hi-Potion to relieve all of her injuries. "Drink this and follow me, you'll get your Heartblade back."

Herzophia downed the vile substance in one gulp. All of her pain lifted away, and she stood up to follow Leon to the next room.

"Kairi? Who are you talking about?" They heard Yuffie say, perplexed. "I'm the great ninja Yuffie!"

So, Sora was awake! Herzophia saw him blink, and a slight haze left his eyes.

Yuffie heard Leon and Herzophia walk in. she turned to the man and stated, somewhat scoldingly, "I think you might've overdone it, Squall."

"That's Leon." He corrected, annoyed.

"Ah! I see the wielder of the Heartblade has also woken up." Yuffie said cheerfully.

Herzophia managed a slight laugh. Woken up, more like lectured... not that she didn't need to know that information.

"I suppose you'll be wanting your swords back now, huh?" Yuffie asked the pair of teenagers. Herzophia nodded, as did Sora. Sora's Keyblade was leaning against the doorframe, and Herzophia's Heartblade was next to it.

Sora gazed at his weapon. "The Keyblade..."

At the same time, Herzophia moved to pick up her weapon. Leon stepped out of the way and allowed her to grab it. Thinking about testing it out, she thought maybe she had to touch someone with it. She poked Leon and attempted to find out how much darkness was in his heart.

Annoyed at the teenager's strange behavior, Leon batted the sword away from him and gave her a death glare. She stopped poking him.

Yuffie spoke to Sora. "Yeah, we had to get it away from you to shake off those creatures. It  turns out, that's how they were tracking you."

"It was the only way to conceal your heart from them," added Leon. "But it won't work for long. Still hard to believe that you, of all people, are the chosen one." He picked up the Keyblade and held it out. It disappeared in a flash of light. Sora gasped, thinking it was gone. A split second later it appeared in his lap, and he grabbed the handle. "Well, I suppose beggars can't be choosers."

"Why don't you start making some sense? What's going on here?!" Sora demanded.

Yuffie began to explain. "There are many other worlds out there, besides your worlds and this town. They're supposed to be secret from each other, and they have, until a little while ago, because they've never been connected. When the Heartless came, all that changed."

"The Heartless?" Asked Sora, in unison to Herzophia's thought.

"The ones who attacked you, you remember?" Asked Yuffie.

"Those without hearts." Leon explained.

"The darkness in people's hearts, that's what attracts them." Said Yuffie.

"And there is darkness within every heart."

"Hey," asked Yuffie, "have you heard of someone named Ansem?"

Sora shook his head, and Herzophia asked, "Who is Ansem?"

"He was studying the Heartless," Leon said, "he recorded his findings in a detailed report."

"Where is it?" Asked Sora.

"Its pages are scattered, all over, to many worlds." Yuffie said. "We think that King Mickey, a wise ruler of a world just to the west of here, has gone to find those reports. Recently, his knight and his mage have come here looking for him. But first, they need a 'key' their ruler spoke of. The Keyblade."

"So..." concluded Sora, "this is the key..."

"Exactly!"

"The Heartless have great fear of the Keyblade and Heartblade. They will continue to come after you, no matter what."

"Well, I didn't ask for this..." said Sora.

Herzophia shook her head. "Me neither."

"The blades choose their master. And they chose you!"

"So, tough luck." Leon said, and leaned on the door to the next room.

"How did all this happen?" Asked Sora, very confused. "I remember being in my room... wait a minute! What happened to my home, my island? Riku! Kairi..."

"You know what, I really don't know."

Sora stood up from the bed, and went to Herzophia. "Do you have any idea what's going on?" He inquired.

"Somewhat... but it's all kind of a blur. All I know is that the Keyblade can open any lock, the Heartblade allows you to see into someone's heart, and with these two blades, we are supposedly the most terrible force ever imagined." She raised an eyebrow. "But I don't think that's true, considering he just whooped our butts."

Sora chuckled. "I don't know, maybe we just aren't experienced enough?" Herzophia shrugged. "Maybe we should get out of here and look for the knight and the mage." Herzophia nodded. Sora walked up to Leon. About to say something, he was interrupted.

"The Heartless will stop at nothing. You'd best prepare yourself."

"Prepare?"

"For the worst. To fight for your life. Are you ready?"

Sora looked back at Herzophia, who nodded. He nodded back. "I guess so." He answered.

"Yuffie, let's go join Aerith. She should be there by now with the other visitors." Leon turned to Yuffie.

"Leon!!" Yuffie yelled. A soldier heartless appeared in the middle of the room.

"Yuffie! Go!" Leon waved an arm towards the other room.

Yuffie ran through the door, smashing a duck into the wall. "Yuffie?" Aerith asked.

The soldier heartless jumped through a window, smashing the glass. "Sora, let's go!" Leon began to follow the Heartless.

Sora and Herzophia ran into the Hotel hallway and out of the building. They saw Leon enter the alley, and followed.

Soldier heartless were everywhere. "Don't bother with the small fries," Leon commanded, "go for the leader!" And he ran off down the alley.

"Well, he went that way, let's look back in the Second and Third districts." Sora said. Herzophia nodded, and they walked back through the door to the Second District.

Heartless appeared all around them. Herzophia remembered Leon's instructions. "Sora, let's just run past these! Leon said not to bother with the small fries and go for their leader, remember?"

"Yeah."

"I think I know the way to the Third District," Herzophia said, remembering where she had woken up all those hours ago. "It doesn't look like their leader is here, anyway." She started running towards the alley she had walked down before she was attacked by Heartless. Sora followed.

Many Heartless appeared as they sprinted down the alley, but the pair of teenagers just dodged them and ran through the brightly lit Third District doors.

The Third District was all but empty, just a large square with a fountain in the shape of two dogs in one corner, and one or two houses around it. Herzophia walked down a flight of stairs leading to the square, Sora not far behind. They walked into the middle of the square, watching for Heartless.

All of a sudden, they heard someone cry out – it sounded like a duck! – and two figures dropped from a balcony above and landed on Sora, despite his attempts to move. Herzophia watched with slight amusement as they all recovered from the fall. One of the people was, indeed a duck. The other one... kind of looked like a dog. The duck and 'dog' shook their heads, and, upon seeing the Keyblade, exclaimed, "The Key!"

Then, the ground began to shake, making it difficult to stand. Many stone pillars rose from the ground, eventually blocking all means of escaping. Soldiers appeared on top of the pillars, and another line appeared in the plaza. These they couldn't run away from.

The three people sprawled on the ground jumped to their feet, ready for battle. Sora and Herzophia whipped out their weapons and charged the Soldiers.

"Hya!" Sora began to beat on a nearby Heartless. These weren't as easy to kill as Shadows. After destroying that one, he immediately turned to another.

Herzophia slashed her way quickly through the first of her enemies, it disappearing the same time Sora's did. She began to hack away at the rest of her enemies.

The duck was a magician. He casted a spell that created a fireball, and shot it at the nearest Soldier. The Soldier was instantly defeated. He continued to shoot down his enemies that way.

The 'dog' held his shield up in front of him and charged nearby Heartless, bashing his way through them. Then he turned around and went for another pass. Many of his enemies died. He turned around again and ran through them.

The four fighters continued to beat up Heartless this way, until none were left. But, unfortunately for them, they were not finished yet.

What appeared to be gigantic armor fell from nowhere. The pieces bounced off the floor of the square, spinning. Pieces that looked like large metal hands connected to the sides of a large cylinder like piece with a heartless symbol on the front of it, the body, in midair. Pieces that looked like feet spun and connected to the bottom of the body piece. The now complete body landed on the ground. A large sphere fell from the sky and landed in an empty spot. That was the head. The armor began to move, the arms spinning in midair, the feet stomping the ground.

The duck and the 'dog' immediately ran towards the armor and began to attack. Herzophia decided to keep her distance for now. Sora walked around at a safe distance from the armor, judging it.

The arms began to spin wildly around the body, injuring the two who were attacking it. Herzophia decided to help them at this point, because just two fighters couldn't take down this big of an enemy. She charged at the armor, and upon reaching the feet began to hack madly at them. The monster seemed to feel no pain. The foot she was attacking lifted up and crashed down, hitting its attacker.

At this point, Sora seemed to be done with his judging, and ran in. He began to slash at the arms, and when they began to spin he hit one, making both arms cease spinning.

All of a sudden, the armor fell to the ground and ceased attacking. Herzophia continued to hack away at the foot. The foot exploded, and many health balls appeared. The injured fighters picked up and healed themselves with the health balls. Sora continued to slash at one of the arms, and it exploded as well.

The remaining parts of the armor began to twitch, and it pulled what was left of itself back together and proceeded to attack its enemies. Herzophia jumped back from the remaining foot, which she had been attacking mercilessly, to take a few seconds rest, to promptly get stomped on. She almost screamed in pain, and began to attack the foot again, her attacks even wilder, but not as strong as before. Because of this, it took a longer time to defeat. When it finally exploded, she picked up the health balls and healed herself.

Sora continued his attack on the remaining arm, gaining a few scratches that way when it spun around the body. The arm spun again, and hurled him against a wall. He stood up and ran back to the armor, jumping in the air and hacking away at the arm. It exploded, and now they only had the body left to destroy.

The duck and the 'dog' had already been attacking the body, and they felt that it was nearly dead. The Keyblade and Heartblade wielders joined them in their attack. The body sank lower to the ground and began to spin like a top, bashing and scattering the four that were attacking it. The two teenagers got up first and began to hack and slash at the body, and shortly after the duck started shooting fireballs at it again. The 'dog' stood up and charged the armor, and a bright light appeared on the Heartless symbol.

A light pink heart rose out of the armor and into the sky. The armor exploded, and the battle was over.

After everyone had recovered, and a few things had been explained...

"So, you were looking for me?" Asked Sora.

"Uh-huh!" The duck and the 'dog' nodded.

"They too have been seeking the wielder of the Keyblade." Leon said. He and Yuffie had appeared behind them.

"Hey, why don't you come with us?" Asked the 'dog'. "We can go to other worlds on our vessel!"

"I wonder if I could find Riku and Kairi..." Sora thought out loud.

"Of course!" Quacked the duck.

"Are you sure?" The 'dog' leaned closer to the duck, speaking in a low voice.

"Who knows?" The duck replied, "but we need him to come with us to help us find the king."

"Sora, go with them." Advised Leon. "Especially if you want to find your friends."

"Yeah," said Sora sadly, "I guess..."

"But you can't come along looking like that, understand?" The duck said, surprising the 'dog'. "No frowning, no sad face, okay?"

"Hyeah, you gotta look funny, like us!" The 'dog' added cheerfully, grabbing the duck's shoulders. The duck shoved him off.

"This boat runs on happy faces!"

Herzophia was staring at the 'dog'. She still couldn't figure it out. WAS it a dog? Deciding to think on that later, she looked at Sora, noticing how sad he was at the thought of his lost friends.

"Happy?" Asked Sora.

"Go on, Sora! Give them a funny face." Herzophia encouraged him.

Sora kept his head down for a few seconds. Then, suddenly, he lifted his head. A stupid grin was plastered on his face, and he did something funny with his eyes. "CHEEeee...eese...?"

The duck and 'dog' stayed silent for a few moments, then erupted into laughter. "That's one funny face!" Said the 'dog' between laughs.

"Okay, why not? I'll go with you guys!" Sora said,  happier.

Herzophia felt kind of left out. The duck and 'dog' had hardly noticed her, if at all.

"Donald Duck." The duck introduced himself, putting out his hand.

"Name's Goofy." Said the dog, putting his out as well.

"I'm Sora." Said Sora, and put his hand out. He turned to Herzophia to see her nervously shifting her weight from one foot to the other. He pointed to her. "That's my friend, Zophi." Then he thought, 'she must be feeling left out...' "Hey Donald, can she come along?" He asked, turning to the duck.

Donald frowned. "No. Our gummi ship only has room for three people. She can't come along."

"Hey, uh, Donald, couldn't we just put another seat in?" Asked Goofy.

Donald thought. "Well, it would be a tight squeeze..." He looked at Sora and Herzophia, seeing the girl nervously shifting around, and the boy looking at him pleadingly. "But, I think we could manage it."

Herzophia and Sora perked up. Herzophia walked over to their little hand circle and put hers in as well. "Count me in, then." She said, smiling.

***************************************

Wow, that took a long time to write. But now my brother's kicking me off the computer, and I have to leave. Tell me what you think, see you next time!


	6. New Abilities and a New World

A/N: recently I haven't been able to get onto Fanfiction, so I'll post up all the chapters I have finished when I can get on again. Sorry about how long it's taking. Disclaimer: I own my character, my character's weapon, and nothing else."

Chapter 6. New Abilities and a New World.

Herzophia, Sora, Donald, and Goofy stood in the First District, in the square that was in front of the Items and Accessories shops.

"Here's a spell you buys should learn." Said Donald as he handed a slip of paper each to Sora, then to Herzophia. "Read those, and the spell will me imprinted into your mind, and you can cast it at any time."

As Herzophia read the slip of paper, which simpy said 'Fire,' she felt an odd tingling sensation in her brain, and the paper she held spontaneously combusted.

"Whoa!" Sora exclaimed. Judging by the pile of ash he now held, the same had happened to his paper.

"Goofy, why don't you give them that other thing you were going to?" Donald asked the knight.

"What thing?" Goofy asked.

"You know..." Donald said.

"Oh! Hyuck!" Goofy exclaimed as he remembered. He took two very small emerald-like jewels from his pocket, and handed them to the two teenagers. "Here ya go!" The jewels had strange markings on them, like runes. "These'll give ya the special ability called dodge roll. Just hold them in your hand and give them a tight squeeze. Then you'll learn it."

Herzophia squeezed the gem as hard as she could, and felt a stinging feeling as the jewel seemed to melt into her hand. She gasped. Suddenly she felt she had the ability to do something that she hadn't been able to do before.

Sora, having had the same thing happen with his hand, decided to test out his new ability. He started to roll all around the area, having fun with it. As soon as he finished enjoying his dodge roll, Donald began to speak again.

"Come on, we'll show you our gummi ship!"

"Gummi ship?" Sora asked, scratching his head in confusion.

"Our space ship," explained Goofy, "we can use it to go to other worlds, like I told you!"

"Other worlds..." breathed Herzophia. Sure, having someone in a game go to other worlds was something fun, but doing it in real life by yourself... that was an entirely new experience.

"Wow!" Sora said excitedly. "Other worlds!"

"Come on, this way!" Goofy said, beckoning and walking towards an especially large pair of double door. "Hu-yuck!" (a/n: I love Goofy's laugh, heheh....)

The group began to walk towards the doors.

"Hey... what's this?" Sora asked, standing over a blue mark on the ground that looked like three hearts, connected by a line in a circular shape.

"That's a trinity mark!" A cricked chirped, seemingly to have appeared from nowhere.

"Who are you?" Asked Sora, as Donald and Goofy walked over, Herzophia trailing a bit behind them.

"Jiminy Cricket's the name!" He took off his hat, put it on his chest and bowed. "I was sent along with Donald and Goofy, to record your journey in my journal."

"What do these Trinity marks do?" Asked Herzophia, catching up to the rest of the group.

"Well, what Sora, Donald, and Goofy have to do for the blue ones is jump in the air and-" He looked back down at the Trinity mark, seeing some movement. "What? The mark changed!" He exclaimed, and the other four looked at it.

The mark had changed from three hearts on a circle to four. "That's certainly not normal!" Jiminy said, still staring at the altered mark. "I wonder what this could mean, and how could it have happened?" He looked from the group to the mark on the ground. "Oh... now I get it." He had figured it out. "Because there are now four of you, Sora, Goofy, Donald, and Herzophia, the Trinity mark has changed to a Quadra mark, meaning it now takes all four of you to get one to work."

"Cool!" Exclaimed Herzophia. "So... what do they do?"

"Oh, yeah, I forgot. Well, all of you, for the blue ones, have to jump in the air and stomp down as hard as you can. Give it a try, why don't you?"

The four of them arranged themselves in a kind of a circle, jumped in the air and stomped down. Munny fell from the sky all around them.  "Munny!" Exclaimed Donald, beginning to pick it up.

"Hey, Donald, you can't have it all!" Sora said angrily. "The rest of us will want some, too." Donald stopped picking up Munny, but most of it was gone anyway.

"Hey, I have an idea." Herzophia said, glaring at Donald as he began to put the Munny in his pocket. The duck stopped and glared back. "Why don't we have one of us get all of the Munny-" at this Donald stopped glaring and looked at her, surprised, but she took no notice and continued. "-and whenever someone needs something, we use money from the large amount, instead of having **some** people be richer than others, making it so some people can't buy anything."

"That's a good idea!" Goofy said cheerfully.

"Yeah!" Sora agreed.

"So... who will it be?" Asked Donald.

"I don't know... I thought we'd take a vote."

"Sora," said Goofy.

"**ME** !" Donald quacked loudly.

"Herzophia," voted Sora.

"Hm... how about Sora." Herzophia said.

"Hyuck, that's two votes for Sora, guess he gets the Munny, huh Donald?"

"Here you go, Sora." Herzophia handed the Munny she had collected to the brunette. "Goofy and Donald, hand him your Munny too."

Goofy handed his small stash of Munny to Sora without hesitation. Donald, on the other hand, crossed his arms stubbornly and said, "why should I? I picked it up!"

"But, uh, Donald, this is the only way it's fair. Just give him your Munny." Goofy said.

Donald growled, which sounded very strange, and glared at the rest of them. Sora crossed his arms and looked at him, Goofy just stood there, and Herzophia glared at him very coldly.

"Fine!" He stomped over to Sora and handed him his rather large amount of Munny.

"Okay, now that we have that stupid fight out of the way, let's move on to happier things!" Herzophia suggested. "How about we go look at the gummi ship like we were doing before?" Sora nodded and grinned, Goofy nodded too, and Donald just went "hmph."

"Come on! It's just out this door right here!" Goofy said, walking towards the large pair of double doors again. The other three followed him. It took three of them just to open one of the huge doors. They walked outside, and, in doing so, directly into the gummi ship. Herzophia went to a window and looked out at the outside of the gummi ship. It was mostly red and yellow, with a small gun on the bottom of it, that could just barely be seen if you used a mirror on the side of the ship.

"Wooow..." Sora said, looking out into space. "Look at all the stars out there!" There were, indeed, many stars in space, more than they could see from inside Traverse Town.

"It's beautiful," Herzophia said. She had gone stargazing when she was at home, but this was entirely different. This time she was **in** the place she had been looking up at. It was utterly amazing. "But, where are the other worlds?" She asked, turning to Donald and Goofy. "Didn't you say there were other worlds out there, too?"

"You're lookin' at them!" Donald quacked. Sora and Herzophia gasped.

"**All** of those are different worlds?" Asked Sora, not quite believing what he had heard. Goofy nodded enthusiastically. "That's a whole lot of worlds!" Then he thought about something. "Oh no, Riku and Kairi could be on any of them! What if they're on the other side of the universe!" He looked sad. "I may never find them again..."

"Don't be so sad, Sora, remember, Leon told you to come with Donald and Goofy ESPECIALLY if you wanted to find your friends." Herzophia said, trying to reassure him. "You'll see, we'll find Riku, **and** Kairi. You won't lose them forever."

Sora smiled at her, feeling a bit happier from her words. "Thanks, Zophi. You're a good friend." She smiled back. "Well, let's get going!" He exclaimed, wanting to get out there right away. "If we have to look through a whole bunch of worlds to find Riku, Kairi, and your king, we'd better get going!" He looked at the slightly confusing controls of the gummi ship. "Who's driving? I know I can't."

"I'm driving." Said Donald. "So get outta my way!" Sora and Herzophia jumped aside from the driver's seat, allowing Donald to get to it and sit down. "Now sit down and buckle up. With all the Heartless out there, this could be a bumpy trip.

"Heartless?" Asked Herzophia, puzzled. "Heartless in **space**? Do they have gummi ships, too, or are they able to stand not being able to breathe?"

"They have gummi ships, too," Goofy said, "and they start shooting at you and trying to run into you when you're flying. It's not very fun when one of them runs into you, nope." He went over and sat in the seat next to Donald. Herzophia went to sit behind Goofy, and Sora behind Donald.

Donald started up the gummi ship, and they were off. Donald, it turned out, was in fact a pretty good driver. There were multiple obstacles all over space, and he dodged them very well. Heartless rarely appeared in the area they were in, and if they did, Donald just pushed a button and the gun on the bottom of the ship shot them down. Actually, the ride turned out to be fun instead of interesting. Herzophia had begun a song with Sora to pass the time. "Seventy-eight bottles of pop on the wall, 78 bottles of pop! Take one down, pass it around, 77 bottles of pop on the wall!" This annoyed Donald immensely, especially when Goofy joined in at sixty-five. At 34 bottles of pop, something appeared ahead of them. It was a very strange world, with pink and red checkers with hears in the middle on it.

"This is Wonderland." Donald said, docking the ship next to a small door. "Come on, let's go." Donald opened the door of the gummi ship, then the one to the world, and walked in. As soon as he stepped off the ship, he began to fall slowly. Goofy saw this and jumped after him. Herzophia and Sora followed suit. Soon enough, they were all floating like feathers down to a checkered floor, Goofy lying on his back with his hands behind his head. 

Herzophia, Sora, and Donald all landed softly and painlessly on their feet, but Goofy flopped over in the air and went **FWUMP** as he hit the floor, painfully.

A white rabbit in a red coat appeared from nowhere. "Oh, my fur and whiskers! I'm late, I'm late I'm late!!" He went scurrying around the room and towards a hallway. "Oh dear, oh dear oh dear! I'm here, I should be **there**! I'm late, I'm late I'm late! The Queen, she'll have my head for sure!" He rushed down the hallway towards a door. Which opened to another door. And it happened again... each getting smaller. He ran through the last door, totally unaware to the four people who had followed him down the hallway.

"If that's not the most pointless thing someone could do..." Herzophia said, shaking her head. (It rhymes! XP) "Why not just make one **small** door? It would be much easier."

"This is Wonderland," said Goofy in his weird voice, "it's meant to be pointless! Hyuck!" And he let out a little chuckle.

Sora shrugged. "Well, let's follow him. He must be going to the leader of this world... maybe they know where the Keyhole is?"

Donald nodded. "Yeah, good idea, Sora! Let's go!" And the four of them ducked through the small door, save Donald, who was short enough to go through without ducking to begin with. They looked around the room they were now in, and saw a considerably smaller rabbit go through a tiny door.

"Great, how are we supposed to get through now?" Herzophia asked, annoyed with the rabbit for his 'cleverness.'

"How did he get so small?" Sora said, scratching his head in confusion.

Much to everyone's surprise, the doorknob spoke. "No, you're simply too **big**." Then it yawned. "You woke me up, you know."

"Hwell, good mornin'!" Goofy greeted it cheerfully.

"Good **night**!" Said the doorknob irritably.

"Wait!" Exclaimed Sora and Herzophia in unison. Sora kneeled down in front of the doorknob. "How do we get small like him?"

"Try the bottle on the table. Over there." Miraculously, a table rose up from the floor as the doorknob spoke, and two small bottles appeared on it, one red, and one blue. The doorknob yawned and drifted back to sleep.

Herzophia leaned on the bed nearby, trying to get out of the way of the fast appearing table. "Great, he's asleep! Now how will w- **AAGH**!" She screamed as the bed slipped from where she was leaning and into the wall. She fell hard, hitting her head on the wall. "Ow..." She said in a pain-filled voice. "That really hurt..." She looked at where the bed had been and, lo and behold, there was a small doorway in the wall. "How convenient," Herzophia said dryly as she was helped up by Goofy.

Sora, meanwhile, had walked over to the table and picked up a bottle. He drank it, and suddenly was standing on the table and very small.  "WHOA!" He yelled in a tiny, squeaky voice, looking up at his greatly enlarged friends.

Donald gaped. "Well," he said, gesturing towards the ant-sized Sora, "guess it works." He took the bottle and drank some himself, soon appearing next to Sora.

Goofy followed suit, and Herzophia after him, each of them shrinking quite a bit and appearing next to the others. "Eew, Goofy, did you **have** to slobber all over the bottle?" Herzophia said disgustedly, wiping off the bottle before she drank and shrunk. This day was turning out to be very strange and she was not in a very good mood.

"What's up her butt?" Donald said in a low voice, but not low enough, as he was promptly hit over the head with Herzophia's none-too-soft fist.

"Well, I guess we should get going!" Sora said hastily, trying to break up the fight that was about to start between Herzophia and Donald. Herzophia nodded, glared daggers at Donald, and jumped off the table onto a nearby chair, and onto the floor, well ahead of the others. Sora followed behind her, then Goofy, then Donald, who was still quite angry and wanted to keep his distance, in case he should get close enough to be punched again.

They were halfway across the floor to the small doorway that had been behind the bed, when several floating red-colored Heartless appeared. One of the hovering Heartless began to spin around very quickly, then stopped abruptly, and shot a large fireball at Herzophia and Sora. The pair of teenagers dodge-rolled out of the way, and split up, attacking the Heartless as Donald and Goofy had already begun to do. Herzophia leapt into the air and hacked at a Heartless, destroying it in a mere 3 whacks. Seeing as these were very weak, they were easily and quickly dispatched. The four fighters continued across the floor and through the doorway.

They emerged from the doorway in a very green courtyard, with tall hedges, one in the shape of a heart. Cards were lined up in the center, forming a pathway of sorts to a small pedestal where a girl in a blue dress stood. A very fat, very ugly woman in a red and black dress sat in a throne on a higher pedestal. The rabbit they had seen earlier rushed up some stairs to a high platform, and blew on a trumpet. "Court is now in session!" He called in a high, out-of-breath voice that sounded like he had cotton balls shoved in his cheeks.

 "I'm on trial?" Asked the girl in a mildly frightened voice, "but **why**?"

"Her Majesty the Queen of Hearts, presiding!" Continued the rabbit, taking no notice.

"This girl is the culprit!" Accused the ugly woman who must have been the queen, "There's **no** doubt about it! And the reason is... **because I say so, that's why**!" Exclaimed the queen evilly.

"That is so unfair!" Exclaimed the girl in the blue dress truthfully.

"Well, do you have anything to say in your defense?" Asked the queen mockingly.

"Of course! I've done absolutely nothing wrong!" Said the girl, crossing her arms. "You may be queen, but I'm afraid that doesn't give you the right to be so... so mean!"

"**SILENCE**!" Roared the fat woman. "You **DARE** defy me?!"

"She's in big trouble..." Herzophia said softly, not wanting to be heard by the monstrous ugly woman.

"Hey guys, shouldn't we help her out?" Asked Sora, continuing to watch the unfair trial.

"Yeah, but the-" Donald began.

"We're outsiders, so wouldn't that be muddling?" Questioned Goofy.

"_Meddling,_" corrected Donald.

"H-oh yeah! And that's against the rules!"

Sora cocked his head to one side, wondering exactly **why** it was that this girl was being put on trial.

"The court finds the defendant... **GUILTY AS CHARGED**!" Judged the queen, quite unfairly. The girl had gotten almost no chance to defend herself, and cringed at the judgement. "For the crimes of assault, and _attempted theft of my heart..._"

Herzophia and Sora gasped. "Theft of her heart... Heartless!" Whispered Herzophia.

"**OFF WITH HER HEAD**!" Roared the queen, and the cards moved in, weapons at the ready.

"No, no! Oh please!" Pleaded the girl.

Herzophia and Sora looked at each other, nodded, and shouted, "**HOLD IT RIGHT THERE**!" They rushed through the assembled cards with Donald and Goofy on their tail, disrupting the court.

"Who are you?" Asked the queen in a high voice, annoyed. "How dare you interrupt my court!"

"Excuse me," Sora said angrily, "but we know who the real culprit is."

"Uh-huh," Goofy said helpfully, "it's the Heartle-" But he clapped his hands over his mouth, realizing what he had almost said.

"Anyway," said Herzophia, pointing at the girl, "She is **not** the one you're looking for!" She glared at the fat and ugly queen, loathing her heartlessness, (no pun intended...) despite the fact that her title was the 'Queen of Hearts.'

"That's nonsense," said the queen, rolling her eyes and putting her hand on her chin, fingers drumming on the arm of her throne. "Have you any proof?" She glanced back at the group.

"Uh..." Sora said dumbly. They **didn't** have any proof, in fact. Because of that, moments later the girl, who they had learned was named Alice, was shoved into a bronze cage, which looked like a bird cage, and locked inside.

"Bring back the evidence of Alice's innocence!" Shrieked the queen. "If you fail, it's off with **all** of your heads! Bring as much or as little evidence as you please. Return here when you've gathered it all." She leaned back in her chair to watch the duck, 'dog', and pair of teenagers.

"Well..." Said Herzophia, thinking, "we just walked in from that way-" she pointed at the entrance they had just come from, "and nothing was there, so I think we should head through that door." She pointed to a smaller door off to the side.

"Good idea," said Sora. "Maybe we'll find some evidence in there." He lead the way through the small door, and exited into a forest. 

They hadn't taken two steps when all of a sudden, maniacal laughter sounded above them, and what looked like a purple, striped cat's head bounced – or whatever – along in the air in front of them, seeming to taunt them. The head appeared next to them on a very large tree stump, and this time a pink and purple striped cat's body danced on top of it. The body jumped off and grabbed the head in its front paws, placing it in the empty space it should have been in.

"Who are you!" Shouted Donald, jumping up and down crazily.

"Who indeed?" Said the cat mysteriously, "poor Alice, soon to lose her head, and she's not guilty of a thing!"

"If you know who the culprit is," said Herzophia hotly, "then tell us!"

"The Cheshire Cat knows all the answers, but doesn't always tell!" The cat taunted. "The culprit, the answer, the cat- all lie in shadows." The cat slowly faded from sight.

"**WAIT**!" Screamed all four, Donald, Goofy, Herzophia, and Sora, at once.

"They've already left the forest, I won't tell which exit." Said the cat, the voice seeming to come from where it had been before. "There are four pieces of evidence in all, three are a cinch to find. The fourth is tricky. Big reward if you find them all."

"Should we trust him?" Asked Goofy thoughtfully.

"To trust, or not to trust?" The Cheshire Cat taunted, fading back into sight. "I'll trust **you** to decide!" And he disappeared again with a malicious cackle.

****************************************

Whee, I finished! Took me a while... that note at the beginning of the chapter, you know? Well, it's been 2 days -I wasn't allowed on for one- and now Fanfiction works again! Lucky me and hopefully lucky you, huh? Well... tell me what you think! Later!


	7. Evidence

A/N: I'm writing this over a 3-day vacation to Milwaukee... where I have to sit in a hotel room ALL DAY and do NOTHING while my parents go to DOCTOR'S CONFERENCES! I'm having a hard time thinking of battles and stuff to put in, but I will try to make this more action/adventurey. I'll probably warp it in the middle of the chapter or so... and it will most certainly take longer than my Milwaukee vacation... argh... Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, but I sure want to... I probably wouldn't have done such a good job on it, though...

Chapter 7. Evidence.

"Well he certainly was no help..." Herzophia stated gloomily. She looked around hopelessly at the abnormally large forest. "How are we supposed to find evidence in this humongous place?"

Sora shrugged. "Well, we'd better get started!" He grinned, and began to walk past the large tree stump.

Almost instantly, two of the red fireball-shooting Heartless appeared, along with about 5 shadows and a very round, very fat Heartless with a tiny head. The shadows spread out and surrounded Sora, save one, who went after Donald and Goofy, along with the red ones. Herzophia, being left with the fat Heartless, charged at her target, Heartblade held in both hands. She brought her sword above her head and swung down with all of her might at her enemy's over-large belly.

It was like hitting a rock. A wave of pain shivered up her arm, making it vibrate. "Ah!" She sucked air in between her teeth, making a hissing noise, and shook her arm vigorously. "That smarts..." she said, still shaking her pain-filled arm. So, she couldn't attack them head-on... the attack hadn't even phazed the large Heartless, which was now beating its stomach, a strange blue aura emanating from it. Herzophia watched dumbly as it hit itself once especially hard, and charged her. She attempted to dodge-roll out of its path, but it just followed her every move. She stood up from her last roll and prepared to sprint away from the oncoming Heartless, but she had stopped moving for too long. Its large belly slammed into her back, and she hurtled into the trunk of an oversized tree, knocking all the air from her lungs.

Sora spun around towards the last shadow and swung his sword in a slow horizontal arc, hitting and destroying his enemy. He looked around to check on the others, and saw a blur of silver and black slam into the trunk of a tree nearby.

Herzophia sat up, holding her stomach and gasping for breath. Remembering she was in the middle of a fight, she turned around to face the Heartless again, and stood up at the same time, sword in one hand, the other still clutching her stomach. She very nearly fell over again when she spooted Sora, who was repeatedly hitting the large-belly Heartless's belly, each time jumping back and shaking out his hand. "Sora! It doesn't work like that!" She half-laughed. She walked over near Sora, who had quit striking the Heartless and was now leaning on his sword, wiping the sweat from his forehead. The Heartless just stood there, scratching its head stupidly. Donald and Goofy had just finished destroying the elusive red fire-casters, and were jogging over to the others.

"Have you tried to hit it from the back?" Asked Goofy, having seen Herzophia and Sora's vain attempts to hurt it from the front.

Sora blinked. "Well... no, we haven-" he was cut off at the large-belly jumped into the air and stomped down, senting out a shockwave that scattered the group.

"Guess we can try now!" Quacked Donald, who ran over to the back of the Heartless and casted a fireball at it, knocking it a good 3 inches forward. The Heartless turned around, beating its stomach again, the blue aura appearing. Donald, having no clue what it was doing, was soon flying backwards, and into a small circle of gigantic cattails and grass.

Goofy charged at the back of the Heartless, shield held in front of him and a hand over his eyes.  Sora ran after him, Keyblade raised, Herzophia not far behind. The three of them began mercilessly attacking it while Donald recovered. The duck stood up, shook his head, and shot another fireball at his enemy, which then disappeared.

"Well, that was fun," said Sora, grinning broadly and leaning on his Keyblade again.

"Yeah... right." Said Herzophia, who was still in pain from being hurled into a tree.

Sora walked into Donald's cirlce of grass. "Don't be so down, Zophi, look!" He pointed to a small pink checkered box. "At least we found something." He walked over to the corner of the grass circle and lifted up the box. Peering inside, he took out a small black stick-thing. "Huh..." he said, "what's this?" The other three looked at it.

"Evidence?" Suggested Goofy.

"Yeah, it could be, but what IS it?" Asked Donald, repeating Sora's question.

Herzophia walked over to where Sora was and snatched the thing from his hand. She turned it over in her fingers. She recognized it from somewhere... "It's an antenna." She said, remembering. She handed it back to Sora, who replaced it in its box. "From a Heartless."

"So THAT'S where I recognized it from..." Sora said, also remembering now.

"Gawrsh... I wonder what these're for?" Said Goofy, looking at a couple of giant mushrooms. Had he heard anything they just said...? But he did have a point... they were arranged rather strangely... like stairs, sort of. "Hey, ya think we can climb these?" He asked, grabbing the edge of one and struggling onto it. He jumped onto the next one, nearly losing his balance and falling off.

The others watched him climb the mushrooms, then jump onto a lily-pad tree thing. Herzophia raised her eyebrows, surprised.

"Well..." Said Sora, scratching the back of his head, "it works, I guess..."

Goofy looked at a nearby lilypad-tree. "Huh?" He said. "It's another pink box!" He scrambled up onto the lilypad-tree and picked it up. "Hey, guys! Lookit what I found!" he hopped down from the lilypad-tree, which wasn't that big of a drop, and handed the box to Sora, who opened it and looked inside.

"Uh..." he took out another black things, but his time is was bigger, and had an ovalish shape to it. "It's a footprint..." he said, perplexed. He looked at the others confusedly, who shrugged. He shrugged back and dropped the footprint back into its box. "well, only two more to go!" He grinned.

"Hey, Goofy!" Said Donald, "did you see anything else up there?" He gazed up at the lilypad-tree.

"Uh-huh, there was a door, to another room."

"Do you think there will be more evidence in there?" Asked Herzophia, hopes high now that they had quickly found half the evidence they needed. 'This may not be so hard after all...'

"Let's go look!" Sora started to climb the mushrooms, not bothering to wait for the others. Herzophia jumped up and grabbed onto an oversized fungus, scrambling to stay on. She quickly hopped onto the next one, then onto a lilypad-tree, where Sora stood waiting for the group, and then helped Sora lift Donald up there, who was too short to get up himself.

Herzophia pointed to the tree trunk, which had a large hole on the side that was facing their lilypad-tree. "Goofy was right, there IS a doorway up here!"

Sora nodded. "Yeah, good eyes, Goofy!" He said, giving Goofy a pat on the back.

"Gawrsh, it was nothin'!" Goofy smiled.

Herzophia walked over to the opening in the tree, and began to walk through. She soon found herself walking into midair, and flailed her arms to stay upright. It didn't work. "AAAAGH!" She screamed, and began to fall.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy truned towards the tree. Sora ran over to the opening and tried to help Herzophia, but he tripped, knocking her through as he fell.

Donald rushed over, looking for the two teenagers who had "vanished." Goofy went as fast as he could, failing to slow down in time, and slamming into Donald, sending the duck and himself hurtling down towards what looked like a large stove – where Herzophia and Sora were now sitting, rubbing their pain-filled heads.

BOOM 

Donald and Goofy crashed into the brick. If it were possible to go swirly-eyed, Donald would be doing just that, as Goofy had landed right on top of the unfortunate mage. "Gawrsh, sorry Donald!" Goofy apologized, standing up.

Donald shook his head, clearing it. He staggered up from the ground. "Ow..." he looked down at a now slightly flattened pink checkered box.

"Whoa, another piece of evidence!" Sora leaned over and picked up the box, then shakily stood up from his laying down position. He opened the box and took out a piece of scratched-up wood. "I wonder what this is..." he trailed off, continuing to study the wood.

"Looks like claw marks ta me!" Goofy said, looking at the mangled chunk of wood and scratching the back of his head.

"I bet that's it." Herzophia agreed, and stood up. "Can we just get the last piece of evidence and get this over with?" She rubbed the back of her head, as if that would get rid of the pain. "I don't know about you, but I think something about this room is off..." She peered around the strange room nervously. She was right about the room – there was something off about it. But, then again, there was something off about the entire world they were in.

"Well, that was fast! Only one more to go in – what – fifteen minutes?" Sora said, grinning like a madman. "Are we good or what?" He plopped the wood back into the box and jumped down from the stove. Herzophia followed behind, landing just barely on her feet, Donald after her, using his wings in an unsuccessful attempt to slow his fall. Goofy came last, jumping poorly and landing flat on his bum. Goofy stood up and brushed himself off, seemingly unaffected by the fall, which amazed and confused his friends.

"You are strange, Goofy." Herzophia said, shaking her head and staring at the knight. She then noticed that Sora had begun to walk towards an entrance she had seen somewhere before... "Hey, this is the room with the doorknob!" She said, and, sure enough, there was the doorknob, snoring away.

"Well whaddya know?" Sora said, "isn't that weird?" Sora started again towards the entrance – it was the entrance to the courtyard.

Herzophia, noticing that Sora had moved again, quickly followed after him, motioning to Donald and Goofy for them to follow too. The four walked into the Queen's courtyard, and soon were spoken to by the Queen of Hearts. "Well, have you found all of your proof?" She said, glaring down her too-small nose at them.

"Uh, not quite yet," Sora said, remembering that the Cheshire Cat had said there were four pieces of evidence. "Just a little bit longer, and we'll be done."

The Queen snorted, and looked away from them. "You'd better hurry up. My patience is running out." She looked over at the cage Alice was in with an evil glint in her eye. She really HAD wanted to behead the nuisance...

Herzophia, noticing the Queen's look at Alice, whispered to Sora, "come on, let's go." The spike-haired boy nodded. Herzophia lead the way into the forest.

"Well," Sora said, looking around and grinning, "looks like this is our second run... let's hope it's our last."

**************************************************

Ah, geeze, sorry it took so long, you guys! Damn writer's block! Grrr! Sure, I'm following the game, but for crying out loud, this is hard to think of! *bangs head on keyboard* Well, I'll try to get the next chapter out soon... I just hope I don't get caught up in .hack//INFECTION again... that is another reason it took so long, other than writer's block... stupid addictive games! Must... not... play...


	8. The Evil Juggler

A/N: I'm sooo sorry you guys who are still loyal! I have been a major slacker on this story! I have no excuse this time other than the ever-present school. I will try to update every month or so, and if I don't, I give you guys permission to e-mail me with a complaint. Sound good? Good, because you'll most likely fill my mailbox with e-mail... well. No. Nevermind. This story can't be all that popular.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. I DO, however, own my characters. This of course does not include anyone you have heard of before you read this story. *poke* Duh.

Chapter 8 – The Evil Juggler

Sora, Herzophia, Donald, and Goofy plodded around the forest, searching for the elusive final piece of evidence. "At this rate, we'll never find it!" Donald said, depressed.

"Nonsense, Donald, of course we will!" Said Sora, happy as usual, as he lead the group through the forest, hands on the back of his head. The others gave him a skeptical look, all three of their confidence, including Goofy's, was dwindling with every minute. Herzophia walked over to a flower and leaned against it.

"You can go on if you want, I'll wait h-" But she stopped talking as a voice entered her head. _Give me a potion, and I'll make you bigger._ It said. She turned around, looking for the source of the voice. Sora, who was about to tell her not to give up, looked around as well. "Did you hear that, too?" She asked him, and he nodded. Herzophia looked up at the flower to see if someone was on top of it. To her surprise, no one was, but the flower seemed to be... **moving**?! "Whoa!" She said, and jumped back from it. "It's the flower!" She pointed a finger at the flower.

"Hm..." Sora pondered, and walked over to the flower. "Here!" He threw a potion to the flower. The flower opened its petals and sprayed an odd spray on Sora. _Thanks..._ All of a sudden, Sora began to grow taller, and forced the other three in his party to scramble out of the way of his growing feet. "Who—oaah!" He cried, holding his head to try and stop being dizzy. He stumbled around, trying not to step on Goofy, Donald, and Herzophia, and ended up falling onto the large stump they had seen the Cheshire Cat on. The stump sank into the ground, and, oddly, made a nearby lily pad spring up from the ground, making it possible to get to a door they had been unable to reach earlier.

"Cool..." Herzophia said, looking up at the lily pad. "Hey, Sora! How do you get smaller!" She shouted up to the enlarged Keyblade Wielder.

"I don't know..." Sora said, looking around. He spotted a very out-of-place egg-shaped fruit sitting on a tree branch. Taking the few steps to it, he picked it up. "Well... guess I'll try this..." He took a small bite out of the fruit, and instantly shrunk back to his normal size.

"Wow, that was a good idea, Sora!" Goofy said, confidence renewed for his part, now that they had another door to look in. "Look, now we can get through that door up there!" He pointed at the dark hole in the leaves.

The four walked over to the mushrooms again, and jumped up them and on to the lily pad trees. They hopped their way across the lily pads and over to the door, then entered. For a second time, they found themselves falling down into the strange room. This time, however, they each landed on a spoke of the handle on a giant faucet, having to try and balance so they didn't fall any further. Herzophia turned toward a shelf so she could jump onto it and get a better place to stand, but stopped in mid-turn and looked at the person sitting there.

They were sitting with one leg hanging off of the shelf, the other tucked up by their stomach. They wore a dark green, hooded cloak over themself, hiding their features. In their lap lay a pink and white checkered box, the last of the evidence. They were facing out toward the opposite wall of the room. "Oh... hello. I suppose you will be needing this?" The stranger said, the voice was feminine, and sounded young, between the age of 13 and 16. She stood up on the shelf and walked a little ways over to the faucet, box in hand.

"Uh... yeah..." Herzophia answered, still startled.

The girl nodded. "Here you go then." A strange noise was heard as she disappeared from view. The pink box clattered to the shelf top, no longer being supported by the girl's hands.

The insane laughter from long before was heard, and the Cheshire Cat faded slowly into view. "Well, look what you've found. Nice going."

"And now we can save Alice!" Sora said triumphantly.

"Oh yes, Alice may be innocent, but what about you?" The cheshire cat asked, causing a few of the group to give each other skeptical looks.

"What do you mean?" Inquired Sora.

"I won't tell. But I will give you something." The cat made a motion with his hand and two pieces of paper fell from the sky, landing in Sora and Herzophia's hands. The pieces of paper, which read 'Blizzard', immediately melted. "See you later!" The cat grinned evilly and laughed diabolically as he disappeared again.

"Well... that was weird..." Herzophia said, and made a leap over to the shelf. She picked up the pink box, and turned back to the others. "We got the last of the evidence, finally." She smiled happily. "No more aimless wandering!" Her smile faded as she turned throughtful. "Did any of you see the strange girl sitting here?" She asked.

"Yeah. I wonder who she was?" Sora said, jumping over to the shelf. "Let's go prove Alice innocent, and seal the Keyhole! We don't need so see the last piece, really, and I don't think any of us want to." Sora then jumped down from the shelf, to the floor below. The other three followed suit. The quartet of heros were all in high spirits now, and they rushed through the strange room as fast as they could, so they could get to the queen quickly and help out Alice.

Upon entering the courtyard, they realized that they were in trouble. The queen was ticked off – bad. She sat in her too-small throne, drumming her fingers on the wooden railing in front of her, glaring icicles at the duck, dog, and two teenagers. "Ah... We have all of our evidence..." Donald quacked hesitantly, withering under the queen's glare.

The queen said nothing, but motioned to one of her cards. The card stood at attention, then commanded, "Put your evidence in front of the queen." Sora and Herzophia brought the boxes up, Herzophia placing her one down on the ground near the front of the queen's podium, Sora putting his three down off to the left of that.

"Impressive," the queen said, raising her eyebrows. "Cards! Bring out my evidence!" One of the cards brought forth a fifth pink box and placed it to the right of Donald, Goofy, Sora, and Herzophia's evidence. "Hm... It would be such a pain to look through all of this evidence." She motioned to the card marked as the ace of clubs, which then mixed up all of the boxes, making it impossible to see whose box was whose. "Pick a box, and that will decide who is the winner of the trial."

"What!?" Roared Donald, jumping up and down in rage. "After all that searching?! You've got to be kidding!"

"No! Now choose! One box!" The queen shrieked, slamming her fist down on the arm of her throne, and with her other hand holding up one finger.

"Fine, then..." Herzophia said, surveying the boxes. "I choose-" but she stopped mid-sentence when she saw a dark spot converge in a corner of the room. It was the stranger from before. She  turned her hooded head toward Herzophia, and what Herzophia saw made her breath stop momentarily.

_The girl's eyes were yellow._ (a/n: I could stop here... but, then this chapter would be too short!) The strange eyes under the cloak moved side to side with her head as she shook it. She extended an arm and pointed to the box next to the one Herzophia was about to choose, indicating that that was the one she should pick. She then disappeared in a cloud of darkness.

"You choose which box?" Sora whispered, nudging Herzophia in the side with his elbow. Herzophia snapped out of her state of shock, and moved her arm to point at the one the cloaked girl had pointed at.

"That one."

A card marked as the eight of spades moved forward to open the box. It jumped back in surprise as a soldier Heartless leapt from the box, then disappeared suddenly.

"What was that?!" The queen cried.

"See?" Sora said, pointing to the spot the Heartless had been in. There's your culprit! Now let Alice go!"

"**SILENCE!**" The queen bellowed. "I'm the law here! Article 29: All who defy the queen are guilty!"  

"What?"

"That's crazy!"

"Cards! Seize them!" As soon as the order was made, all but one of the cards rushed over to surround the quartet of heros. The remaining card sped over to a crank on a small tower, and rotated it several times. The cage that Alice was in was covered by a red curtain, and rose to the top of where it was hanging from.

Herzophia and Sora spun around, cut off from Donald and Goofy by a wall of card soldiers. Herzophia looked over to the small tower, and realized that it could be easily destroyed, and Alice would be freed. "Sora! We have to destroy that tower!" She shouted, and took out the Heartblade. Sora nodded, his weapon already drawn, and began to hack and slash his way through the card soldiers to the tower. Herzophia came up behind him, and when they reached the tower, she whacked away the attacking card soldiers so Sora could destroy the tower.

Donald and Goofy were on the opposite side of the tower, the mage casting as many spells as he could at the oncoming soldiers, the knight charging through groups of them with his shield. Amid the sounds of battle and screams of "catch them, you fools!" from the Queen, the noise of wood breaking was heard. Sora had destroyed one of the four cranks of the tower. Donald looked over at Goofy while casting Fira on a nearby eight of diamonds, and yelled out, "Let's get over there, Goofy!" The dog nodded, and began to charge through the soldiers to Herzophia and Sora, Donald coming up behind.

"Hoo! Ha! Ha! Hyah!" Sora continued to attack the tower, Herzophia continued to defend. Goofy and Donald appeared, knocking a few cards to the ground. "Hi there – Hiya! – Goofy! Would you – Yah! – mind giving us a hand?" Sora said between attacks.

"Sure thing, Sora!" Goofy turned toward Herzophia. "I can take over from here, hyuck!" Goofy exclaimed, smiling. He then turned back around, and began bashing random cards over the head with his shield.

Herzophia jumped back from the line of battle and spun to face the tower. Running to an unoccupied area, she began hitting it with her blade. She heard the sound of wood cracking again, and Sora appeared in the area where the last crank was. She continued to beat the crank with all her might, and soon the wood gave way. Sora gave her a thumbs-up signal, and went back to his own. Herzophia looked into the space left after the crank had broken, and saw that they needed to destroy the entire tower, and not just the four cranks, to get Alice down from her bird-cage. She began hitting the main part of the crank-tower, and smiled in satisfaction as the wood creaked from the abuse.

Donald stood next to Goofy, shooting fire at the cards that were not hit by Goofy's shield. "These sure are weak soldiers!" He called out breathlessly, trying to strike up a conversation while in the middle of battle.

Sora and Herzophia continued their onslaught of the now very abused tower, which was cracked in several places and ready to burst.

**CRACK**

The tower split into many large splinters, raining down on the card soldiers, the Queen of Hearts, Donald, Goofy, Herzophia, and Sora. All who were in the courtyard spun to face Alice's cage, which fell rapidly toward the ground. The cage halted at the bottom, and the curtain was pulled back to reveal Alice...

To reveal **nothing**?!

"She must have gotten kidnapped while we were fighting!" Donald said, gaping at the empty cage.

"You fools!" Wailed the Queen. "Find the one who's behind this!" Came the orders. "I don't care how!"

The group of four seemed forgotten in the panic as the cards ran to their duties. "Well, guess we should go find Alice, huh?" Goofy suggested. The others nodded and trudged through into the strange forest again. As they entered the wood, one of the strange flowers spat out a large boulder, and the Cheshire Cat promptly appeared.

"Have you seen Alice?" Sora asked, knowing now not to hope for an answer, but trying anyway.

"Alice, no, shadows, yes!" Answered the purple striped feline.

"Well where did they go?" Inquired Goofy.

"This way, that way, does it matter? Right, left, up, down, all mixed up thanks to shadows! Step deeper into the forest, to the deserted garden." The Cheshire Cat spoke the riddle. "You might find shadows in the upside-down room!" Purple and pink stripes disappeared as the cat faded from view once again.

The group looked at each other, and began to do the Cheshire Cat's bidding. By now, they had figured out that speaking in riddles and giving incomplete answers was just the way the cat preferred to speak. They fought off the few Heartless that appeared before them on their way deeper into the forest, and came to an opening in the leaves that was previously blocked by a gigantic rock. They stepped through the door of shrubbery and into a strange garden, with a table covered by a pink tablecloth in the center. What caught their eye almost immediately was the painting directly across the garden from them. The painting depicted a human in an extraordinarily large hat and an oversized rabbit, both with looks of surprised horror on their faces. Upon closer examination, Donald found out that there was writing next to the painting that read: A very merry Un-birthday.

There was a door to the left as they stepped into the garden, and, not without a few looks back at the disturbing artwork, the group of four walked into the adjacent room.

"They're hiding somewhere. And the momeraths outgrabe." Said none other than the Cheshire Cat. "Want to find shadows? Try turning on the light." As the Cat once more faded from view, Shadow and Soldier Heartless appeared.

Separating, Sora and Herzophia spun and danced through the Heartless, easily defeating the dark beings. Donald and Goofy sat back, relaxing, watching with approving looks the battle that was going on. Then, there appeared six of the red bell-shaped Heartless and a fat one. The mage and knight leapt up from their restful positions and joined in on the fight.

Herzophia jumped back from the red Heartless, and decided to test out her new spell. "BLIZZARD!" She cried,  and even though she didn't know if it was right, she pointed her Heartblade at the red Heartless. Ice shot from the end of Herzophia's blade, speeding toward its fire shooting victims. The Heartless's eyes widened as the ice hit them, then they burst and disappeared. Taking note to use that spell again, Herzophia jumped into battle with the other three against the Large-Belly. Using teamwork, and bait for attacks, the teenagers, mage, and knight defeated the big Heartless.

Looking up to check for any more red fire-shooters, Sora noticed oblong, hollow glass shapes that looked oddly like lamps sitting on things that looked like tables from his point of view. "Hey, look, maybe that's what the cat meant by turn on the light?" He suggested, pointing out the lamps to the others of the group.

"Huh... yup." Goofy said simply.

Sora beckoned to the others, and jumped up, grabbing onto the edge of a table. Hoisting himself up, he pointed the Keyblade at the top of the lamp, thinking that the magic of his sword might do something. It did do something, and a wick inside of the lamp immediately burst into flame.

Spotting a dot of purple and pink out of the corner of his eye, Sora turned to the Cheshire Cat, who then spoke. "It's too dim. Make it brighter."

"What next?" Asked Donald.

"One more lamp that you need to light." The Cat then disappeared again.

Sora, confused, jumped over to the other table and again used the magic of his Keyblade to light the lamp. Again the purple and pink striped cat appeared, this time on the lamp Sora first lit. 

"All the lights are on. You'll see the shadows soon. They'll show in this room, but somewhere else. They might go after that doorknob, too." The cat then, of course, faded into nothingness.

"This gets weirder every minute." Stated the duck-mage.

"Come on down, Sora, we've got to find the shadows if we'll find Alice!" Called Herzophia.

"Sure thing, Zophi." Sora said, grinning. The Keyblade master dropped down from the lamp table, and walked up to the others in the group. "I think I know what that cat was talking about. Have you noticed how this room looks similar to many of the other rooms in this place? Maybe, if we light the lights in all of the other rooms, we'll find the shadows AND Alice."

Donald blinked, unaware that Sora could be so smart, and kept his mouth shut.

"Good thinking, Sora!" Goofy complimented. "Guess we should get goin' then, huh?"

The others unanimously agreed, and they all walked over to the wall, where Herzophia had said she noticed something odd. Looking at a piece of metal hanging from the wall, she pulled it, and the wall in front of them opened into the queen's court. The quartet moved through the door, and opened a treasure chest they found on the opposite side. They then jumped down from the hedge they were positioned on and proceeded to enter the forest for what seemed to them like the hundredth time.

"That cat said everything was messed up, right?" Herzophia asked the others, without even waiting for an answer. "Well, if it is, those doors we went through before won't have the same rooms, or, at least not seem like it, right?"

"Know what, I bet you're right." Donald answered, pondering the question himself. "Come on, let's head up to the door-in-the-tree thing."

Goofy nodded, and turned to Sora, who also agreed. So, the four jumped up the large mushrooms and across the giant lily-pads to the door Donald mentioned, and entered. As Herzophia had thought, the room was changed. In fact, the room was flipped onto its side. "Look out!" Shouted Goofy, and lifted his shield to ward off the attack of an oncoming Heartless. There weren't many, and there was a single Large-Belly, so the group of four easily defeated the Heartless. Off to the side, a previously flat pot rose from the ground, allowing the group to jump up onto it and to the other side. More Heartless appeared, disappeared, appeared again, then disappeared again as the group fought them.

There was a large faucet near the wall, and, using his knightly strength, Goofy turned it. Water shot out from the faucet and toward a flat yellow pot that was seemingly glued to the wall, defying physics. The pot seemed to grow as it filled with water, and the faucet turned itself off when the pot grew to its capacity.

Peering into the pot, Donald jumped with surprise. "Wow, this leads to the queen's court! How weird..." He quacked.

"Hmm... yes, weird... now, off we go!" The others stared as the silver-haired teen launched herself through the pot, onto another hedge, and off again. The others followed behind.

Lamps, lamps, and even more lamps. They went into many rooms more than once, and eventually found no new rooms whatsoever. For lack of anything else to do, the quartet of confused heros found themselves, once again, in the Queen of Hearts' court.

"Ugh, the same room over, and over, and over..." Sora sighed heavily.

"What are you talking about?" Asked Donald. "Same room? Those were all different."

Sora shook his spike-covered head. "No... they were all the same room, twisted and turned about on each other. What, didn't you notice that?" Sora's eyes grew wide as he stared at Donald. "We were in the room enough times, after all!"

"As a matter of fact..." Herzophia said ponderously, "you're right. I think it's that big room we followed the rabbit into before, actually. Y'know, the one with the talking doorknob?" The others nodded boredly. "Look, I know we're all tired from seeing the same things multiple times, but hey, one more time really won't do much to us, now will it?" She raised an eyebrow as the others didn't respond. "Oh, come on!" She walked off through the heart-shaped hedge that lead to the room she had spoken of.

"Ooooh! You're finally done!" A mildly insane voice sounded from above. Azure, dark orange, black, and brown eyes looked up to see a pink and purple striped feline perched atop the oh-so-familiar blue table. "Well, you can't see much from down there, can you? Come on up here to get a better view." The Cheshire Cat voiced in a range of tones.

The cat again. At least it wasn't a Heartless. Four tired and slightly annoyed beings climbed a chair to join the crazy feline, and were once again spoken to by an insane-sounding, but yet very intelligent, all-knowing voice. "The shadows are almost here," spoke the brightly colored animal, "oh, yes. They're very close now. I can't bear to think what could happen to you... but you do want to save Alice?" The cat grinned, seemingly more widely than usual. "Oh, your friend has arrived." The cat pointed upward, grin still plastered unwaveringly on its face, and disappeared.

"What did he mean by-" but Sora was cut off, as a very large and very colorful item dropped from the ceiling. As it landed, it made a crinkling noise, as if it was made of paper. Before anyone could raise an eyebrow or ask 'what the heck was that?' the paper thing stood. It was a Heartless, with black, yellow, and red colored paper making up most of its body. The paper was folded up to be like diamond-shaped, miniature accordions. In each of its hands, it held a large stick like one might use at the circus in the juggling act. It was very tall. If Sora stood next to it, he would only reach – maybe – mid-way through what was assumedly its shin.

"...uh..." Sora stared at the thing, which, upon hearing his voice – or sensing his heart? – turned toward the group and shot a very large, very hot, and very painful fireball at them.

BOOM 

All four were shot off of the blue table and onto the ground. Rather than stating the obvious, like 'looks like it's time to fight!', Herzophia stood up and shot a fireball of her own at the Heartless. It didn't even reach the thing's head before disintegrating. Donald shot ice at it. Didn't work. Goofy jumped and whacked part of its legs. The thing winced slightly, and began to stomp around in an attempt to squish the canine knight. Success!

Sora, now knowing where they could hurt the thing, began to jump up as high as he could and take a whack at its legs. Herzophia tried to hit the feet, thinking perhaps they would be hurt as well. Her sword rebounded as if she had hit a rock, and sent a painful wave through her hand that traveled all the way up her arm. Uttering a curse in a pained voice, she shook out the abused appendage and began to use Sora's method.

Donald was lost as to what his course of action was. The others were doing fine, but... the dismayed duck looked around. He then spotted something almost obvious from the start, and wondered why he, with his superior knowledge, didn't realize it could help him out. The bird climbed up to the table, went to the edge near the juggler-heartless, and shot ice at it. This time, it hit. The Heartless went down in a heap on the ground. The three fighters eyed it confusedly for a moment, until it stood up and whacked them all with its large juggling sticks. No, definitely not finished. They continued as they had been doing before.

~~~~~~~

"Oh, dear. It looks like this guy has them stumped..." A soft, musical voice whispered from the shadows. "I wonder... should I help them out, once?"

A moment of silence.

"Maybe they can try again..."

~~~~~~~

Two slouched jugglers later, the fighters, and the mage, were growing tired. The monster hurt them every time it stood up, and they still didn't know what to do when it did that. After another mighty blast of ice from the clever duck, the juggler went down once again. The fighters stood back and waited for it to stand up again.

"**Blizzaga!**" The voice of a stranger shouted, and a huge wave of ice hit the slumped Heartless. The heartless reeled in pain, and stood up, almost dazed. Herzophia, Sora, Goofy, and Donald blinked, looked around for the sixth being there. They spotted no one, and nearly got stomped in their distraction. They returned to fighting.

~~~~~~~

"Hope that worked..."

~~~~~~~

The juggler slouched again. This time, the fighters warily approached, then hit it. It seemed to cry in pain, but couldn't stand quite yet. They hit it again and again, and finally it stood. It seemed to be having a hard time staying on its feet. It walked drunkenly over to the brick stove, and when it turned to face its foes once again, its batons were flaming like brightly-colored, festive torches. It threw the sticks around, amazingly not dropping them, and began to sweep near its feet with the flaming objects.

"Shoot!" Herzophia dodged, and narrowly missed being bludgeoned over the head with fire, which would have been an undoubtedly painful experience. They would have to be a bit more careful when they fought it now, because they had feet and flaming batons of doom to dodge. Herzophia looked inquiringly at Sora and Goofy, and they both nodded, to say they understood the silent message. The fighting resumed.

After many burns, many stomped limbs, and many much-appreciated healings – courtesy of Goofy's potion supply – the monster fell again. The mage, knight, and two warriors hit the thing ruthlessly, knowing it was on the brink of destruction.

Suddenly, they were all thrown backwards, and a bright, bluish-white light burst from the chest of the Heartless. A pink and red faceted heart rose from the disappearing juggler, and vanished into the shadows above.

"Gods almighty," Herzophia said, ignoring the odd stares from the others at her expression, "that was a tiring fight if I ever fought one!"

"Uh..." Sora blinked. "...where's Alice?"

The others, as if suddenly jolted by static electricity. Alice was nowhere nearby. That meant that the Heartless here didn't take her... which also meant...

"Oh, great. The queen's going to kill us!" Donald quacked with dismay.

"Not if... we leave before she can." Herzophia said, and stood up quickly. After a slight dizzy spell, and a reminder not to do that again, she beckoned the others. "She can think we're lost in the forest or something. Let's just go find Alice. Besides... it's about time we left this crazy world!"

"No arguments there..." Sora said, and stood up as well.

"Works for me." Came the duck's reply. They all sprinted as fast as they could for the way out.

"Huh? Oh! Wait for me!" Goofy cried, leapt to his feet, and followed behind, going through the many small doors, down the twisting, confusing hallway, and back to the Gummi Ship.

********************************

A/N: ...yeah... okay... finally got this out...

Don't kill me! *cowers*


End file.
